Clojure: Getting Started in 5 Simple Steps

More than anything, this post succinctly describes how to get up and running with Clojure + Emacs. Virtually no thinking is required if you are working from a default install of Ubuntu, and not much more is required for any linux distro – you just need to know how to use your package manager.

Furthermore, if any of these steps would cause you trouble (deleting .emacs* comes to mind), you probably already know how to handle it.

A few new things (to me)

Emacs starter kit:
improves advanced configuration of emacs

OpenDNS:
basic web filtering

Gizmo:
make and receive online calls

Google Voice:
very nifty phone enhancements

(the above two can be combined to give free skype-in/out type service)

Wiping Data (or Secure Deletion) from Linux

WARNING: This blog post was posted at approximately 3 AM. As a result, it is not very well defined. Had I been thinking, I would have been more to the point. As it is, I may repost more info about the Seagate HD when it is successfully RMAd.

One of my hard drives is making sounds that indicate that it could fail at any time; In order to prevent any losses, I ordered a new drive. I spent a while copying all of my data from one drive to the next (I generally have 2 drives in my computer at a given time; the drive closer to failure contains data that is broadly available online, so losses should be minimal if anything happens, while my personal data is semiannually burned to disc and regularly synced to my brother’s computer). At any rate, I finished the migration, and started updating my install on the new drive.

The next morning I got up and found that my computer was making a horribly disturbing sound. The update process had blocked on a prompt for my acceptance of a license agreement.

Resizing windows in Gnome

I’ve been using fluxbox for a year or two, but I’ve decided to give another WM a shot for a while.  However, just because I am trying something out doesn’t mean that I want to change my usual bindings.

I’ve been using gnome for a day or so now.  Instead of rebinding all of my application startup keys, I’ve mostly been using ALT+F2 to launch whatever I want, which is pretty effective.

Anyway, to get to the point, Gnome’s default resizing operation is ALT+Middle click as opposed to ALT+Right click (ALT+Left click is move, which is pretty standard). 

Why Gentoo?

Not many people know that I run Gentoo (a source-based linux distribution) at home. Largely this is because most people don’t care. But for those who may care, I’ve decided to explain how Gentoo is better, at least for me.

Gentoo is known for taking a lot of time to set up – which is well deserved. Gentoo typically takes 1-3 days to complete a full install, and requires more work in maintenance than most other distros.

However, as I developer, I find that it is quite nice.

Xorg 1.5 – a step in the right direction

Interestingly enough, I recently upgraded to xorg-server 1.5 from 1.3. I removed my xorg file, and it works passably. It’s choice of graphics drivers is a little annoying – I’ve been using radeonhd and getting 3-5000 frames in glxgears. Now I’m getting about 1000, and it pegs my cpu.

However, all functionality on my mouse is auto detected – horizontal and vertical scrolling, backwards and forwards buttons. This means that my previous posts on scrolling are now obsolete – but that is life.

Eating Aloe

Well, I recently decided to taste some aloe (vera, not any of the more toxic species). I found it to be quite bitter. However, upon further experimentation, I discovered a few things… but first, I’ll describe the 4 main components, from my perspective.

Components
First off, we have the exterior (just in case you have trouble identifying this, I’ll give you a hint: it’s the green stuff).

Musical Analysis (Arbeitsbuche)

I was recently trying to locate a specific release of Rudolf Buchbinder’s Beethoven Sonatas 1-3, and I chanced upon some interesting downloads on musical analysis. Well, at least I think they’re interesting – unfortunately, my German is only slightly better than my Greek, so I cannot determine exactly how true this is. Fortunately, music notation is pretty standard, and other figures aren’t too hard to analyze.

Regardless, here are a couple of interesting musical links for the musically inclined.

http://www.wisskirchen-online.de/

Workbook for Upper-level Music Instruction Volume 1

Workbook for Upper-level Music Instruction Volume 2

(and I hope I did not completely botch the title translation)

Software testing – Virtual Machine resources

Cross platform software can be difficult to debug.  Having a set of virtual machines on hand that can be used for testing can be quite handy.  Here are a few resources I’ve found for pre-made disk images.

VMWare Player images (seems to have much less variety):

ThoughtPolice

Gentoo (didn’t find a VirtualBox image)

VirtualBox images (large variety):

VirtualBoxImages (mainly torrents, large index)

VirtualBox Images (direct download, hosted on sourceforge)

HelpDeskLive (older)

I think that should cover most open-source OSs.

As far as windows goes, one option is to roll your own and save it in its initial state.  If you have access to the MSDN, most OS releases are quite readily available.

Linux vs. Mac vs. Windows

My standpoint on Linux vs. Mac vs. Windows: strengths of various operating systems, with Linux being the standard of comparison.

A quote from Facebook:

“I highly recommend MAC – they are fabulous, and things of beauty. And personally, I would stay away from Linux – not the most enjoyable OS to work with. Then again, with all the updating of packages and stuff – that might really appeal to you:)”

Off the top of my head; posted in response